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A  STUDY  OF  THE  COST  OF  LIVmG^/ 

I  By    Katherine    Philips    Edson,     Executive    Officer,    Industrial 
Welfare  Commission,  State  of  California. 

April  19,  1919. 

\'J'()  the  Industrial  Welfare  Commission:  -^-:'  '  '," 

Gknti.emen — After  hnvinc:  studied  tho  cost  of  living  increases 
as  reported  by  tlie  United  States  P.ureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  the 
study  made  of  the  Pacific  Coast  by  the  University  of  Washington 
for  the  Emergency  Fh>et  Corporntion.  the  study  made  by  the 
XationnI  Industrial  Uonference  Board,  the  studies  made  by 
Professor  j\I.  K.  Jaffa  of  the  University  of  California,  used  by 
I  lie  Oakland  Arbitration  Board  in  the  adjustment  of  wages  for 
the  Key  liouto  Sysuni  and  afterwards  used  by  the  National 
\\'ar  Labor  Board  in  the  settlement  of  the  disputes  concerning 
wages  coming  before  them,  and  also  the  studies  made  by  our 
agents  during  the  summer  and  fall  of  1918  of  San  Francisco, 
(iakland  and  Los  Angeles,  I  have  the  honor  to  report  the 
following  conclusions  : 

The  i'nited  States  Bureau  of  Labor  shows  that  the  index 
figure  for  all  commodities  in  1913  was  lOO  per  cent ;  in  1914, 
!I9  per  cent;  in  December,  191S,  20G  per  cent,  or  lOG  per  cent 
increase.  It  also  shows  that  in  San  Francisco  it  was  2  per  cent 
higher  in  December,  1918,  than  in  November,  1918. 

The  National  Industrial  Conference  Board,  in  its  study, 
"War-Time  Changes  in  the  Cost  of  Living"  from  July,  1914,  to 
November.  WIS.  "published  in  February.  19r,t,  shows  that  the 
increase  in  the  cost  of  living  for  a  workman  and  his  family  of 
four,  in  the  industrial  cities  of  the  United  States,  is  GS.l  per  cent 
since  1914.  Their  study  shows  that  there  has  been  the  following 
increase  : 

Food    8.3  per  cent 

Shelter    --  20  per  cent 

Fuel,  heat  and  light 5.5  per  cent 

Clothing   93  per  cent 

Sundries --  55  per  cent 

The  annual  expenditure  of  the  average  workman's  family  is 
distributed  approximately  as  follows: 

Food    - —  43  per  cent 

Shelter 18  per  cent 

Fuel,  heat  and  light 6  per  cent 

—  24  per  cent 

Clothing   13  per  cent 

Sundries 20  per  cent 

Professor  Jaffa  shows  that  the  increase  in  the  price  of  food 
for  a  woman  during  moderately  active  work,  since  May,  191G, 
to  February,  1919,  is  75.8  per  cent ;  that  the  cost  per  day  for 
raw  materials  unprepared  in  any  waj-  is  from  ,$0.2477  in  May, 
1916.  to  .'>0.4354  in  February,  1919,  these  prices  being  for  the 
city  of  Berkeley. 

The  studies  made  by  this  department  were  begun  in  July, 
1918.  and  were  made  partly  by  volunteer  assistance  of  women 
attending  the  University  Summer  Session  under  our  direction. 
These  studies  were  made  principally  through  cafeterias  and 
lunch  rooms  of  San  Francisco,  Oakland  and  Berkeley.  They 
were  made  from  several  angles  and  showed  that  the  cost  ranged 
from  70  cents  to  89  cents  per  day.  Properly  balanced  meals 
might  be  purchased  in  cafeterias  of  these  cities  by  a  woman 
doing  light  work,  if  she  had  a  knowledge  of  food  values,  for 
70  cents  a  day.  However,  for  a  woman  doing  active  work,  the 
average  cost  would  be  89  cents. 

The  San  Francisco  Y.  W. -C.  A.  has  kept  the  average  amount 
of  checks  for  various  meals  purchased  in  that  institution  for  a 
huig  period.     They  average  as  follows  : 

Breakfast    ?0  20 

Lunch    0  27 

Dinner 0  37 

:  : :- :  :\  .-$0  84.per-»55iy 


lu  disoussiiiK  witli  hotol  and  cafoti-ria  inou  hath  iu  San  Fran- 
cisco and  Los  Aiificlcs,  they  all  conci'ded  that  it  costs  from 
75  cents  to  $1   per  day  to  feed  their  help. 

Studies  were  made  of  cafeterias,  lunch  rooms  and  boarding 
homes  in  Los  Angeles.  In  women's  subsidized  boarding  homes 
pric.  s  for  room  and  board  have  advanced  from  20  per  cent  to 
42  per  cent — this  is  for  a  room  for  two  and  two  meals. 

Cafeteria  owners  said  that  checks  ran  from  28  per  cent  to 
33  per  cent  higher  tiian  in  the  last  few  years.  Drug  store  and 
soda  fountain  Imiches  showed  an  increase  of  40  per  cent.  It 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  portions  are  much  smaller  and 
cheaper  varieties  of  food  are  being  eaten  by  women  workers; 
that  is.  with  the  same  or  larger  expenditure  of  money  less 
nutritious  foods  are  being  consumed  because  of  the  high  cost 
of  the  more  desirable  articles. 

The  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  shows  an 
increase  in  food  prices  between  December,  lJtl4,  and  June,  1!)1S, 
in  San  Francisco  and  Oakland,  of  44.87  per  cent ;  in  Los 
Angeles,  a  40.02  per  cent  increase.  There  has  been  not  less  than 
1.8  per  cent  increa.se  per  month  since  June,  1918,  according  to 
the  estimate  of  Prof.  William  F.  Ogburn,  noted  cost  of  living 
expert,  with  the  National  War  Labor  Board.  This  would  mean 
an  increase  since  June,  1918,  through  February,  1919,  of  14.4G 
per  cent,  or  59.33  per  cent  for  San  Francisco  and  54.48  per  cent 
for  Los  Angeles,  as  against  83  per  cent  in  the  industrial  cities 
of  the  country  at  large. 

California  cities  have  not  felt  the  increase  in  cost  of  rent  as 
have  the  cities  of  the  Northwest  and  the  Eastern  states  during 
the  war  times.  Many  reasons  account  for  this,  the  principal 
one  being  the  increase  in  industry  was  not  as  great  here  as  in 
those  communities  having  large  orders  for  munitions,  clothing 
and  other  war  necessities.  In  our  shipbuilding  districts  of  San 
Francisco  and  Oaklaud.  in  June,  1918,  it  was  found  by  a  study 
made  for  the  Wage  Adjustment  Board  of  the  Emergency  Fleet 
Corporation  that  rents  had  decreased  4.54  per  cent  since 
December,  1914.  to  June,  1918.  In  Los  Angeles  it  was  found 
that  in  the  shipbuilding  district  they  had  increased  by  8.28 
per  cent  in  the  same  time.  However,  in  the  fall  of  1918,  in  all 
the  cities  of  the  state,  a  sharp  increase  was  made  in  rents  of 
apartment  bouses,  lodging  houses  and  hotels  of  from  15  per  cent 
to  20  per  cent ;  in  some  cases  greater.  This  has  been  felt 
keenly  by  the  woman  living  on  a  margin.  It  has  meant  moving 
farther  out  and  frequently  to  less  desirable  quarters. 

The  secretary  of  the  Los  Angeles  Apartment  House  Associa- 
tion told  our  agent  that  the  increase  would  uot  be  less  than 
15  per  cent.  The  Secretary  of  the  San  Francisco  Apartment 
House  Association  said  the  increase  in  San  Francisco  would  be 
from  15  per  cent  to  20  per  cent.  Practically  no  building  has 
been  done  in  three  years  and  all  desirable  quarters  are  at  a 
premium.  The  National  Industi'ial  Conference  Board  states 
that  an  estimate  of  20  per  cent  advance  in  rents  is  a  conserva- 
tive estimate  for  the  country  at  large. 

It  is  in  clothing  that  the  working  woman,  as  well  as  all 
people,  has  felt  the  increased  cost  of  living.  The  proportion  of 
her  budget  that  goes  for  clothes  is  necessarily  larger  than  for  a 
family  or  for  a  woman  at  home.  She  must  be  presentably 
dressed,  and  the  standard  demanded  by  the  employer  and  the 
general  public  of  neatness  and  cleanliness  can  not  be  attained 
except  at  a  sacrifice  of  essential  necessities  on  the  present 
wages  paid. 

According  to  the  study  referred  to.  made  for  the  Emergency 
Fleet  Corporation,  the  increase  in  the  cost  of  clothing  for  the 
irife  of  a  shipyard  worker  was  found  to  be  71.92  per  cent  in 
Oakland  and  San  Francisco.  In  Los  Angeles  it  was  found  to 
be  77.82  per  cent. 

The  National  Industrial  Conference  Board  reports  as  follows 
the  increase  in  articles  of  women's  clothing  from  July  1,  1914, 
to  November  1,  1918: 

Hosiery    94.2  per  cent  i 

Knit  vests ^-'-^  ^^^  ^^°*' 

^Muslin  combinations 82.7  per  cent 

Coats   91-1  per  cent 

Women's   blouses ---     64.2  per  cent 

Shoes 90.5  per  cent 

Glove^ ,__^,^_^;-: 100.2  per  cent 

lUk*-*. ^v;-;-i-^i-- ^^'■'^  ^^^'  ^^°* 


Their  trial  bud!i;et  for  the  wife  of  a  workius  man  sliows  a  cost 
in  1914  of  $58.15.  and  in  1918  the  same  articles  cost  $109.40, 
or  an  increase  of  88.1  per  cent. 

Studies  made  by  our  agents  in  six  stores  in  San  Francisco, 
Oakland  and  Berkeley  show  an  increase  of  G3.2  per  cent  for  the 
same  articles  over  the  1914  prices. 

In  Los  Anseles  a  similar,  but  not  strictly  comparable,  study 
was  made  and  showed  an  average  increase  of  89  per  cent. 

Mrs.  M.  V.  Greene  made  an  independent  study  of  Emporium 
employees  for  board  and  room  and  also  clothing.  This  study 
showed  an  increase  in  clothing  ranging  from  33.3oJ  per  cent  in 
certain  articles  to  tiO  per  cent  within  the  last  two  years. 

This  evidence  has  led  me  to  prepare  for  your  consideration 
the  following  budget : 


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Relative  Weights  of  Items  Forming 

Budgets. 

1914 
(per  cent) 

1!II8 
(per  cent) 

Board    and   room                                           -- -- 

60 
22 
18 

61 

Clotliine                                               -  --- 

24 

Sundries 

15 

100 


lOO 


This  beinj;  llip  cvidoncc  I  draw  from  the  best  authoritativl 
souroos  nt  my  dispose  1,  I  iireseiit  as  my  recommendation  thl 
following  hndset  as  the  minimum  cost  of  living  for  a  soIl| 
de]iendent  woman   in   California : 

Board,  at  .$r>.25  per  week $273  00 

IJooni.  at  !f3  per  week ITiCi  OO 

Clothing    170  7.") 

Sundries    !()(>  20 

$705  95 

or  $13.57  per  week. 

Whether  it  is  desirable  to  fix  a  minimum  wage  on  this  figure 
is  for  the  commission  as  a  matter  of  policy  to  determine.  Tin 
minimum  wages  fixed  by  the  several  states  in  the  Union  an 
as  follows : 

Wttshington — For    4S-hour    week,    $13.20.     To    exist    until    six| 

months  after  peace  is  signed. 
Oregon — For  50-hour  week,  $11.10  for  Portland. 

Kansas — $S..50,     mercantile;     $9,     telephone;      (proposed — $11,  | 
factories) . 

Massachusetts — $9,  factories;  $10,  retail  millinery;  $8.50,  mer- 
c-antilc  ;  $11,  wholesale  millinery. 

Manitoba   (Canada) — $12,  factory. 

Province     of     British     Columbia — $12.75,     mercantile ;     $13.50, 
laundry. 


The  National  War  Labor  Board  has  been  fixing  in  war 
industries  a  minimum  wage  of  $15  for  a  4S-hour  week,  and  in 
some  industries  as  high  as  35  cents  per  hour.  In  Arkansas  it 
set  an  increase  of  $3.50  per  week  over  the  rate  fixed  by  thn 
Industrial  Welfare  Commission  in  the  laundry  industry,  making 
a  wage  there  of  $10.50  per  week. 


Respectfully  submitted. 


Katherine  Philips  Edsox. 


Note:  June   10,   1919. 

The  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  accepted  the  above  study. 
and.  on  April  22,  1919,  fixed  a  minimum  wage  of  $13.50  per 
week  for  the  mercantile  industries. 

On  May  12,  1919,  the  Commission  fixed  28  cents  per  hour  as 
the  minimum  rate  in  the'  fruit  and  vegetable  canning  industry, 
with  a  piece  rate  scale  that  will  yield  not  less  than  2s  cents 
rer  hour,  or  $13.50  per  week. 


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